Lanterns - Kerosene lanterns of the type seen in re-enacting are often available through hardware stores for under $20, and Wal-Mart carries them in their sporting goods department for under $8. There are some models which are brass and cost between $35 and $45, but may not be acceptable in camp. Black or red are the most commonly used colors.  Brass lanterns, readily available in many hardware stores now, were listed in catalogs of the period as "fancy brass lanterns for conductors" - a reference to their use on the railroads, and consequently unlikely to have been prevalent in camps during our period.

Strictly speaking, the kerosene lanterns as available from Wal-Mart or hardware stores are not authentic because of the shape of the frame and the globe (period globes were more onion-shaped than hurricane-globe-shaped) and because they were relatively scarce. However, they have found such widespread acceptance among re-enactors that we also accept them.

Many folks use wooden lanterns with four glass sides which use candles, and those are available from most sutlers at prices ranging from $16 to $22. These lanterns are more accurate for the period than the commonly found kerosene lanterns, less messy than the kerosene lanterns which have to be refilled, and there is some photographic evidence to support our use of the type of wooden lanterns commonly available from sutlers.

Makeup - Very little by way of makeup is generally considered to be authentic. Our stated concern is that we do not care if something is not authentic, so long as we cannot see it. Logically, one would suppose that we would then oppose the use of makeup. However, this is one area of exception where we have neither the temerity nor the unmitigated gall to suggest that any woman go without makeup if it is not her idea and decision to do so.

In fact, makeup was probably used far more than most folks realize, although the nature of most makeup was that it was self-invented. Beeswax, for instance, was used to coat and cover pock marks from small pox and other diseases, which led to the fireplace screen which kept the heat off of ladies’ faces so that the beeswax would not melt and reveal their scars (or scare off a gentleman caller who might be horrified to see his sweetheart’s face melt). The ladies employed flour to whiten their skin, berry juices or even blood as rouge, and many other items to enhance the beauty with which nature had graced them.

Why is it then that we are so broadly unaware of the use of makeup? Most folks in re-enacting are men, after all, and so such things would tend to escape them. Also, men are often unable to distinguish between nature and art, and we listen with gullible ears to songs such as Evelina, of whom it was said

She’s fair like the rose, like the lamb she is meek, 
She never was known to put paint on her cheek;   
In softest of curls hangs her raven-black hair,   
And there never was need for perfumery there.

Fair and meek she may have been, and when it was clean her hair probably did hang in "softest of curls". Almost undoubtedly the singer was mistaken if he thought "there never was need for perfumery there" just because he was not able to smell her over his own pungent aroma. It is likely that he thought her rosy cheeks showed the inner glow of good health when it may have indeed been "paint on her cheek" (or the flush of tuberculosis). Sentimental songs of this sort unquestionably helped many a young man form a falsely romantic notion of his Evelina’s natural good looks being - well - natural.

In short, use makeup without any qualms if you choose to do so. We favor your choice.  We know which side of the bed we're buttered on...Uhhh, we know the buttered side of the bed...hmmm...We know which side of our bed is buttered...Oh, hang it all, we know better than to poke our noses into the ladies' business when it comes to their makeup.  Let your conscience be your guide.

Napkins - The local fabric store may have absorbent cotton fabric in patterns that will look rough and work-a-day, but you could also use white birds-eye cotton fabric (very similar to diaper cloth - see Fabrics) which is relatively thick and absorbent. Dish towels may also be made the same way. In thickness located somewhere greater than percale or muslin but less than terrycloth, birds-eye cotton fabric may not be historically authentic but it is reasonably absorbent and will pass.  If you can locate it, huckabuck is a period-accurate fabric for napkins or toweling.  It is a relatively coarse weave of fabric, and may be found either plain or with colored patterns.  Huckabuck fabric may be most familiar to us as the toweling we used to find in gas station restrooms in dispensers that allowed the continuous roll of huckabuck to revolve through the dispenser - not a very hygienic practice, to be certain.

Oil Lamps - See Lamps or Lanterns.

Pajamas - See Sleep Wear.

Paper Cartridges (Rifle) - While we are an artillery company, a high percentage of our members have rifled muskets or muskets which they use in defense of our cannons when necessary. Philosophically, 5th Company does not favor the episodic conversion of our cannoneers into infantrymen, but circumstances at events often compel us to make the change in defense of our cannon position, as too often the infantry troops have no historical notion of their role in supporting us. Therefore, it sometimes falls to us to become our own infantry support.

Providing our own infantry support has been occasioned by incidents of enemy cavalrymen or infantrymen ignoring safety rules (actually charging our position within the muzzle blast zone when it has been clearly marked out for them to avoid) and the dictates of common sense in order to say they have attacked a cannon position. When this occurs, the only deterrent to such behavior is to have infantry support. Unfortunately, all too often either the friendly infantry forces are away from our position or retreat from our position rather than defending it, leaving the role of infantry support to us.

Since we are artillerymen, the only acceptable small arms are rifled muskets or muskets or musketoons. Pistols are the sole province of non-commissioned and commissioned officers. Should you choose to purchase a rifled musket, musket, or musketoon, we advise that you consult our company expert for help in choosing the right one and finding the right price. Arms such as the Henry or Spencer repeating rifles are not appropriate for use with our artillery units, and will not be acceptable for use with our company.

If you are one who carries such a small arm, then it will be necessary to learn how to prepare your own paper cartridges. Should you prepare the cartridges before the event, consider the type of event to which you will be traveling. A re-enactment may warrant the preparation of roughly fifteen to twenty-five cartridges for each day of the event, while an event which offers tacticals may warrant fifty to sixty cartridges per day or more.

The best and most historically accurate cartridge paper would be mailing paper; it is thin, strong, and has a slightly glossy appearance. A second good and workable cartridge paper would be the moderately coarse commercial paper towels that you find in public restrooms. However, your office or the Texaco station or Wal-Mart may object to you leaving their restrooms with your pants stuffed with their towels, so if you find access to such paper difficult, you could also use a lightweight brown wrapping paper, or even paper bags (not the heavy grocery sacks, however, but bags such as might be used for penny candy).

There are two basic approaches which can be taken to making the cartridges. One is to pour the number of grains you intend to use per cartridge into an elongated mound on the paper you are going to use. Eyeball the size of the piece of paper you will likely need to contain that amount of powder and roll it as you have seen cigarettes rolled, with a twist at either end to secure it within the roll. For those of you who have ever seen a Cheech and Chong movie, you may better understand how this is to be accomplished if we tell you that it will look much like a joint with the twisted ends folded over. Some folks like to apply a touch of glue stick to the cartridge edge to seal it up. While not strictly accurate, it does work.

Purists may prefer to use a form in order to make their cartridges. We recommend that you consult the Ordnance Manual for the specifics of paper size, shape (a trapezoid), and other related details. We will confine our comments to the creative part of the how-to-build-your-own. A wooden dowel which has been sanded down or built up (by tape or paper wrapped around it) to the diameter of the ball that would have gone into the cartridge is to be your form for the cartridges; it is around this form that you will wrap the cartridge wrapper (the mailing paper). Round of the end of the form (your dowel) so that when it has the cartridge wrapped around it, it may form the cartridge as if it had a ball in it.

As the cartridge is rolled, the ends will need to be tied at the smallest point, or neck, of the twist. If you look hard enough, you will find flax thread. However, if you are more of a leisurely authenticist (or perhaps lazy - now known as motivationally challenged), unbleached or natural cotton quilting thread is a very close substitute. As for filling the recess created by the rounded dowel end for a ball, purists advocate using some kind of ball just to keep up appearances.

Cotton balls are used pretty commonly, but use only the small or regular size cotton balls. The larger facial sizes are more appropriate for cannon charges (not really - just checking to see if you were paying attention). Two to four cotton balls will work well as a ball substitute. Some use three to five sheets of toilet paper, but claim that it does not work as well and does not make the cartridge look as authentic.

Should you be so moved, you may also want to consider making "Arsenal wrapped" bundles of cartridges, and that would include bundles of percussion caps wrapped in bundles of twelve. Each bundle would be labeled, tied with twine, and placed in the lower compartments of the cartridge tins. Ten rounds of rifle balls and twelve cartridges would be wrapped in a sheet of coarse paper measuring approximately seven inches wide by eight inches long. The heavy ends of the cartridges - the ends with balls - would be at the bottom of the bundle. A printed Arsenal label would then be pasted to the package on the side opposite the folded side, and then the package would be tied with two loops of twine. Should you want to appear totally authentic, it will be necessary to purchase an inexpensive rubber stamp that your local stationery store can make for you in order to print the Arsenal information on the label. Colored twine was sometimes used and therefore would be acceptable, but the most commonly used and presently most readily available twine is the relatively light twine you find used in butcher shops or grocery stores.

If you remove the twine carefully, you should be able to re-use the wrappers and labels time and time again. It may be prudent to keep them in your pocket against a future time when you may need them. Should you forget to bring toilet paper from home or leave it in your tent when you make the trot to the porta-john, you may find that there is no paper there at all. Then you will be very glad you decided to re-use your wrappers.

For those who have opportunity to fire live rounds on occasion, never carry both live rounds and blanks at the same time. Hopefully, you will not roll any live rounds until occasion permits the almost immediate firing of them, but if you do prepare both types well in advance for any reason, please mark the live rounds in some conspicuous, unmistakable fashion and then leave them at home. Prevent a tragedy.

Plastic - You saw "The Graduate" and you remember the scene in which Dustin Hoffman is advised at his graduation party to enter the world of "Plastics!" because that’s where his fortune will be made (now forget about the scenes with koo-koo-ka-choo Mrs. Robinson - we have a serious point to make here). So now you think that plastic came into being in the 1950s or 1960s. Well, guess again.

Plastic came into use in the 1850s for the daguerreotype case. Many were made of papier-mâché, leather, wood, a blend of paper and leather, cardboard, embossed fabrics, and then came plastic. From about 1853, so-called "Union" cases were sold and became quite popular because their composition allowed for a great deal of artistic ornamentation, making them both more attractive and readily marketable. These cases were "thermoplastic", the name deriving in part from the process of bonding a baby-powder-fine sawdust with dyes or coloring agents and shellac by compressing them into a mold under heat. The more popular name "Union" derived from the process, too; it was a union of the aforementioned elements.

Detailed cases were prized for the ornamentation on the case almost as for the daguerreotypes they displayed. Die-makers and engravers were able to create fairly elaborate molds or dies in which daguerreotype cases could be produced in volume with the new plastic material, and that became a strong industry for many years. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the Union cases were cheap, though. They did not enjoy the popularity of many of the other case material types because they were among the more expensive cases. After all, they were made of plastic.

Don’t be misled, either. Plastic would take almost another century to begin to enjoy common, workaday use. Avoid all plastic items.

Plates - If your preference is tin, 9" unmarked tin pie plates are available at almost any discount store such as the Dollar General Store, often for less than $1.50 per plate. We have seen them for a dime each at flea markets. You may be fortunate enough to locate some with relatively low sides, but most will have high sides. After all, they really are pie plates (but you can get a heapin’ helpin’ of gumbo or jambalaya in those high-sided plates). The drawbacks to tin plates are their ability to transfer heat and their marked tendency to rust. A tin plate full of hot red beans and rice or hot gumbo may make you wish you had worn gloves.

Enamelware is also acceptable, although enamelware with a stainless steel ring exposed as a decorative rim or trim is not authentic. Some folks contend that enamelware is not authentic for the period, but in point of fact it was in use, although not the widespread use it would come to enjoy after the War’s end.

If you prefer enamelware, see Cups for information.

You may also try wooden plates. Those are available unfinished from craft stores, but they tend to be fairly expensive relative to the alternatives you have. Also, you will need to coat them with a food-safe, non-toxic finish. As an additional limitation, although most are made of basswood, they will not sustain too many impacts without splitting and they will retain the flavor of dish soap unless you rinse them very, very well. Tin or enamelware will be more durable.

Pocket Watches - See Pocket Watches under Re-enacting Tips - Personal.

Seats - (See Camp Stools and Chairs). Some believe that there is no place in re-enacting for a chair or even a stool. Their contention is that an army on the move would only have had the ground and ammunition or supply boxes to sit on. There is some merit in that argument. However, when they camped for any length of time, they procured as many creature comforts as they could. In fact, there is photographic evidence to support not only the use of camp stools and chairs, but also benches. There are photographs of the Washington Artillery of New Orleans with rather plain, almost Shaker-style benches in use in camp. So be comfortable and as authentic as possible in your choice of rear end rests.

Sex  -  There is little that we could say here, or would say here, about the subject of "sex" in reference to equipment.   The information you most likely would seek on that subject is under "Re-enacting Tips: Personal" - and we think that is appropriately listed.   That is, unless you are looking for information on French envelopes or French letters, in which case there is some small amount of information we may pass along. 

First, the qualifier "French" was undoubtedly chosen because of the reputation that the French have had historically for being great lovers.   Second, "envelope" or "letter" meant the same thing: condom.   Third, they were made of sheep intestines, not latex rubber.  Fourth, we are unaware of any extant examples; and if we knew of any, we certainly wouldn't be so crude as to mention their whereabouts here.

Shoes - See Footwear.

Showers - For those of us addicted to the creature comforts, a portable shower is available from Wal-Mart, K-Mart, or other discount or camping goods stores. Meant to be exposed to the sun to heat the water by being hung from a tree, it can be mounted and used in your tent if you have a wall tent. Just screw a hook into the ridge pole and suspend the water bag from it while you stand in a galvanized tub (available at most hardware or grain and feed stores) and hose yourself down. Because of the weight of the water, you are well advised to hang the water pouch from the ridge pole only while showering. Conservative operation of the shower nozzle should provide enough water for two people to bathe and one person to shampoo her or his hair.

Skillets - Cast iron skillets are available readily at Wal-Mart, K-Mart, and other discount stores. These are the same skillets for which you will pay up to triple the price from many sutlers. In fact, most flea markets and antique stores and junk stores charge as much as the discount stores charge for them new, and often the only difference between the junk shop variety and the discount store variety is that the one in the junk shop is rusty and dirty and belonged to someone else.

Sleep Wear - It’s your tent, isn’t it? Sleep naked or wear Victorian sleep wear or anything in between. So long as we don’t see it, we don’t care. If you do insist on sleeping á naturél, however, we recommend that you be sure that the flaps of your tent overlap and then tie them tightly. While you may not mind giving us a show, we might not want to see the show.

One handy garment for the ladies when they have to make a middle-of-the-night trip to the restroom is a cloak. Whatever the sleep wear may be, a cloak can be put on and taken off quickly and will give plenty of modesty cover to the wearer. You never know who you will run into on that midnight bathroom run.

Snood - See Hair / Hairdini.

Socks - The cotton rag socks available from sutlers tend to be a bit expensive. The discount department stores often carry a brown-and-white or blue-and-white cotton sock which looks very much like the period cotton rag socks, should you want to go that route. If you wear brogans, you may feel more at ease in your impression wearing socks which look like socks of the period. However, in most cases there is no reason you cannot wear your everyday socks, and most especially if you wear boots.

Stockings - A more comfortable and inconspicuous alternative to the more authentic - and heavy - ladies’ stockings with garters is a pair of cotton knee-highs. Knee-highs may stay up better than stocking with garters on your shapely legs (depending on what shape they are, of course). The best guideline to follow concerning colors of stockings would be to wear black for daytime and white for evening.

Many ladies like to wear the striped stockings that were so popular during the period. Colored, horizontally-striped, or clocked stockings were worn by very fashionable women with special coordinating outfits, usually when the skirts were elevated for walking. Our sole (no pun intended) caution would be to purchase stockings with a relatively thin stripe rather than a wide stripe, as the wide stripe did not come into vogue until the 1870s. Should you have wide stripes, no one (other than the most ardent authentics) will die; and the men are not to notice your feet anyway, so who would be offended?

Tent - Give careful consideration to what your accommodation needs will be not only immediately, but for the foreseeable future when you are deciding what tent to buy. The two basic tent types in use with the 5th Company - Washington Artillery are wedge (or "A-frame") and wall tents. Although there are norms for those two types, you will find variations on both in terms of size and options.

Wedge tents are typically smaller than wall tents, and that would certainly be true of their usable space even if they shared the same floor plan as a wall tent. A wedge tent requires less labor to erect than a wall tent, and uses less wood in the erection of the tent than does a wall tent. On the other hand, a wedge tent lacks the head room of a wall tent.

There are some wedge tents that are meant to be crawled into, made of two pieces called "shelter halves"; these do not have a front or rear flap or closure, but are open. Those are common among infantrymen and would be acceptable for use with 5th Company, although as of August 1996 there are none in use within 5th Company.

Wedge tents more like those in use with 5th Company would be classified as "large" wedge tents (versus, of course, "small" wedge tents). A "small" wedge tent has a floor plan that is roughly 7’ X 7’; a large may have a floor plan that is roughly 7’ X 8’6". However, there is a wedge tent that has almost exactly the same floor plan as most wall tents: roughly 10’ X 11’6", and its peak is taller than that of the others - more accurate to the period, and certainly roomier than the smaller wedge tents.  The key difference between that "large" wedge and the wall tent in practical terms is the amount of labor and wood required to erect the wedge (much less in both cases), and the amount of usable space within the large wedge (also less than the wall tent). For a one person occupancy, though, it is terrific, and two can co-exist quite comfortably in the larger wedge tent.

If you have two or more people who will spend any amount of time at all in a tent, you may want to consider a wall tent. The wall tent looks like a wedge tent that has been erected on a 44" tall rectangle. The advantage of this tent which most commonly has a floor plan of 10’ X 12’ over a large wedge tent is that the wall tent has much more head room and the walls (rising vertically from the ground to about 42" to 44" in height) provide more usable space for cots, coolers, trunks. Or whatever you choose to store in the tent.

Keep in mind that there are often a number of options available with a tent, not including accessories such as ground cloths (see Ground Cloth for further information). Wedge tents may be available with either double doors (the front and back are both made with flaps that tie closed) or the back may be provided as a "bell" (the bell extends the base measurement of the wedge marginally and seals the back shut) for a little more money. While it may sound attractive to have at least one end of the tent secured without having to tie it shut, the disadvantages are that you do not have front and rear access; you have to be sure you have the front pointing in the right direction when you erect the tent; you cannot enjoy the blessings of a breeze through the tent on those awfully hot days and nights when you would pay big bucks for a fan; and it is more difficult to fold neatly and compactly because of the bell.

Another option available from some is called a "sod cloth", which is simply about 10" of material sewn to the bottom flap of your tent all the way around. One advantage is that it makes a better seal around the base of the tent, something many folks hope to effect by laying straw all around their tent, and it helps to keep the moisture out as well. Also, if you have a ground cloth in your tent, laying the edges of the ground cloth over the top of the sod cloth helps effect a moisture-resistant seal in the tent at ground level. The disadvantage of a sod cloth is that it makes it harder to fold the tent up neatly and compactly.

Carefully consider what you anticipate your needs to be before ordering a tent. If you think you will bring along a spouse and a brood of children, consider either multiple tents or at least a wall tent. If you will be camping alone, you may find it more desirable to tote along the smallest tent you can get away with. Don’t spend money on options that render no true benefit, though. Consider features like water-resistant canvas, mildew-resistant canvas, and pre-shrunk canvas.

If your canvas is not pre-shrunk, then you need to either erect the tent at home before your first event and water it daily for several days, take it down, and re-erect it to see how much you will need to alter the ridge pole. Your tent may shrink by six inches in length. If you have a wall tent, you will also want to check the wall poles because the walls will also shrink, although more on the order of one to two inches in height. Should you decide not to shrink it at home, then when you return from your first event, erect it in your yard so that you can make adjustments before your next event. Imagine your surprise when you drive three hours to get to an event, lay out all of the materials for your tent, and find that the ridge pole is six inches too long now. You don’t want to find yourself sitting in the soft glow of a flashlight held under your chin, whittling six inches off the ridge pole and having to drill a connecting hole with your trusty pocket knife. Take it from someone who knows.

Two people can erect a wall tent if they follow a simple methodology.   The trick is to lay out the tent so that all four corners are placed where they need to be, and the flaps to the front (and rear, if the tent opens at both ends) are tied tightly together; and the wall poles should have steel rods at both ends so as to serve as both stake and wall pole.  Beginning with one corner, insert the wall pole into its tab for that corner so that you can push it down into the dirt, staking itself through the bottom loop on the tent. Have the other person hold it erect as you put on the rope and stake the rope as it should be (although not quite as tight as it will need to be.   Proceed to the next corner, so long as it is to the left or right of you and not kitty-corner across the tent from you.  As with the first corner, insert the wall pole through the top and bottom tent loops and push the bottom rod in the wall pole down into the ground.  Place the rope over the top rod of the wall pole, place the rope on it, and stake the rope.  Moving to the next corner, let the tent droop in place as you perform the same procedure to that corner.  As you rope that corner, you'll pull the second wall pole up into place.  Now holding up the wall of the tent with one hand as you move to the last corner, set the last wall pole, and rope and stake it.   At this point, it will look like a rectangular above-ground pool waiting to have the cover removed.

Finish inserting the wall poles, ropes, and stakes for the rest of the tent.  Tighten them.  The lower portion of the tent is now ready.

Insert your ridge pole now.  While one person stand at the front attaching the ridge pole's vertical pole to it, the other one should go to the back of the tent (if the back is solid, then you should enter through the front flaps and work from inside the half-raised tent) and attach the ridge pole's vertical pole there. That being accomplished, then both should raise the ridge and vertical poles in unison, going at the same pace.  It will require pushing against the canvas fairly strongly in order to get it in place, but it should go in relatively easily.  Total time required to erect a tent in good light is under twenty minutes.

(Footnote: Sibley tents, a style that looks like a 12’ tall funnel sitting atop an 18’ diameter round cake, are not permitted to be used when camping with 5th Company. There are four compelling reasons for this. First, they were not used in the original 5th Company. Second, they are deucedly difficult and time-consuming to erect. Third, they are notoriously unstable under moderate to heavy winds. Fourth, they are almost as deucedly difficult and time-consuming to take down. Hospital tents are also prohibited from use within the 5th Company camp for the same reasons. A hospital tent is a form of wall tent, but it is 14’ X 14’ X 11’, making it a monster in our camp.)

Tent Fly - Most tent manufacturers make tent flies, but you can do the same and perhaps save some money. Again, as with the ground cloth, we recommend that you investigate canvas drop cloths or canvas by the yard from a fabric store. It will require some sewing skills, especially with a machine that can handle very heavy fabric, and the purchase of grommets which are available from Wal-Mart’s or your local hardware store. You may find that you will have to waterproof the canvas yourself, so bear that in mind. Without waterproofing, you can make a fly that is roughly 12’ by 15’ for around $70, and waterproofing will cost another $24 to $32.

Not all waterproofing is appropriate for fabric. In some cases, the waterproofing can make the canvas more flammable. Be sure to check the container to see what the appropriate applications are for that particular waterproofing, using only that which is made for use with fabric or canvas.

Time Pieces - See Pocket Watches under Re-enacting Tips - Personal.

Trash Receptacle - If you think you will be generating much trash (particularly true of couples or families, of course), you may want to hang a burlap sack on one of the side wall posts of your wall tent, assuming you have one, and use the burlap sack to conceal the plastic trash bag you would use to line it. Burlap sacks are often available at re-enactments for under $2 each. Some folks like to use an old barrel or keg to hide their trash bag, too. You may also burn your non-plastic trash in the company fire pit. Please be mindful to place your aluminum cans in the appropriate receptacle, and be mindful to not throw plastic trash into the campfire for ecological and health reasons (noxious fumes and the risk of being pounded to a pulp by some of our ladies are the primary health considerations).

Trouser Linings - Buying the trousers unlined is more economical than buying them lined, and allows you the luxury of using a lining separate from the trousers in the event that you sweat into the lining (which, of course, you are apt to do) so that you can easily change them. You may find it necessary to change several times in a single weekend. Pajama bottoms make a great and inexpensive "lining" that does not have to be buttoned to the inside of your trousers or cinched up with a drawstring or held up in any other fashion. It also makes a fine fashion statement should you need to drop your trousers in a battle (as may happen if you lie dead on the field of honor and happen to be cohabiting the same piece of ground that a family of fire ants believed was their exclusive property).

This "lining", incidentally, is recommended in place of men’s period drawers. They are intended to supplant your contemporary briefs, boxers, or brief boxers. Some prefer to wear their normal underwear along with a trouser lining or pajama bottom, which is fine, but it can be both hot and inconvenient when you heed the call of nature.

Be careful to make certain that your shirt tail is long enough to always cover the separation at the back of your trousers, though, no matter what you wear.   While no one really wants to see the back of your period underdrawers, no one anywhere wants to see the back of your modern underwear or your pajama bottoms through the pie-shaped wedge in the back of your pants.

No one.

Utensils - Period forks, knives, and spoons are often available at flea markets and antique store, as well as many sutlers; typically, sutlers offer them from $1.50 per piece to $5 per piece and more. Also, you may find three-tined forks with matching spoons and knives in inexpensive sets at department stores (service for four may range from $30 to $80), or at flea markets and the like.